This invention relates to apparatus for feeding lengths of tape to a sewing location to be sewn onto other material. In particular, it relates to apparatus that may be set to accept and feed tape that has any width within a predetermined range. The feeding operation includes cutting off an end portion of selectable length from the forward end of the tape being fed toward the sewing location and then feeding the cut-off portions, which may be called patches, farther forward toward the sewing location.
There is a type of tape known as Velcro.RTM. tape that serves as a convenient means for joining two pieces of material together temporarily, but sufficiently well so that they will remain joined in spite of considerable force tending to slide them apart. However, they can relatively easily be separated by peeling one piece from the other. Velcro.RTM. tape consists of base tape material to which small, resilient, plastic hooks are firmly joined so as to extend outwardly from one surface of the base material. The hooks are arranged in rows perpendicular to the length of the base material and are small enough and close enough together in both the length and width directions of the tape so that there are lots of hooks, even in a small patch of Velcro.RTM. tape. When these hooks are pressed against the surface of a piece of cloth, they hook onto the threads or fibers of that material and hold on so firmly that the cloth cannot be slid relative to the tape without the use of a very high force. A patch of such tape sewn on the surface of one edge of a jacket, for example, will engage the juxtaposed surface of the other edge of the jacket and will hold those two edges together as well as if one had a button and the other a buttonhole, yet the two edges can be separated with only moderate force if one of them is peeled away from the other.
In such tape, the hooks are normally restricted to the central part of the base material, leaving narrow regions free of hooks along the edges of the base material. The base material usually has a width in the range of about 12.5 mm, to about 50 mm., although the material can be narrower or wider than that typical range. The patches of tape to be sewn onto the surface of a first piece of material typically have a length of about 12.5 mm. to about 100 mm., although, as in the case of the width, the length can be outside of this typical range. Thus, when such tape is cut into small lengths, or patches, their rectangular dimensions are typically between about 12.5.times.12.5 mm. and about 50.times.100 mm.
One convention that will be followed in referring to these patches in the following description is that the dimension referred to as the width of the patch is the width dimension of the tape from which that patch is cut. The length of the patch is perpendicular to the width and is thus measured along the longitudinal direction of the tape. As a result, a patch may have a length smaller than its width, which is not the way one customarily refers to the dimensions of rectangles.
In the sewing industry it has been common to cut patches of the tape to the proper dimensions and to furnish the sewing machine operator with a box of such pre-cut patches. The operator separates one patch at a time from the others in the box, places the separated patch, together with the material onto which it is to be sewn, in the sewing location of a suitable sewing machine, and attaches the patch to the other material by forming a suitable pattern of stitches. In the case of a small patch, that pattern may simply be a row of stitches or a bar tack, and, whatever the pattern, there are many makes of sewing machines that will automatically form the desired pattern.
Although a single patch of such tape can be extracted from a box of such patches more easily than that same patch could be peeled away from the surface of a piece of soft material, the separation of one patch from the others and the placement of the patch in the proper orientation in the sewing location and with the correct surface facing upward requires considerable dexterity and attention to the work, as well as a measurable amount of time. As a result, businesses that do that work would very much like to have some automatic means of feeding one of the patches at a time into the sewing location and with the proper surface of the patch facing up.
It is a principal object of this invention to provide automatic feeding apparatus to perform the functions desired, as just stated.
Another object is to cut one of the patches at a time from the end of a long piece of the tape shortly before that patch is automatically fed into the sewing location of a sewing machine.
Another object is to provide means to accommodate different widths of such tape by merely making simple adjustments in the feeding apparatus.
Still another object is to provide means for moving the patches, one at a time, from the cutting location to the sewing location.
A further object is to propel the end of the tape forward into means to sever a patch from the rest of it, and to control the propulsion quite accurately so that the increment of forward movement of the tape will be equal to the desired length of the patch.
A still further object is to provide propulsion means that grip the tape so that it can move only in one direction, whereby the patches will all have the desired length corresponding to the movement imparted by the propulsion means.
Yet another object is to provide feeding apparatus that can be used with a wide variety of sewing machines made by different sewing machine manufacturers.
Still further objects will be apparent from the following specification together with the drawings.
In accordance with this invention, the feeding apparatus includes rigid, elongated supporting means that has guiding means on it to guide tape of the type described. The tape is drawn onto the supporting means from a tape supply, such as a reel, by a one-way device that controls the movement of the tape so that it can either move forward toward the sewing location or can be stopped but is not free to move backward. The propulsion means may be a rotary actuator connected by a one-way clutch to a drum that has a roughened surface against which the tape is pressed for nonslipping engagement.
A device to sever a patch from the end portion of the tape is located between the propulsion means and the forward end of the supporting means. The tape-engaging portion of a device to hold each patch while it is being severed and to move it forward to the sewing location is located between the severing means and the sewing location, and, at that location, is an adjustable cloth plate that forms a shallow nest closed on three sides to fit three edges of the patch and open on the fourth side through which each patch enters the nest.
Further in accordance with the invention, the guiding means includes two parallel walls, at least one of which can be moved toward and away from the other and then clamped to hold the proper spacing between the walls to accommodate the width of the tape being fed along the path defined by the guiding means. The propulsion means and the severing means extend across the path at their respective locations, requiring one or both walls to be formed in several pieces. In addition, the frame and other components of the sewing machine at the sewing location may be of different size from one make of machine to another, and that may require forming the forward portion of the guiding means so that that portion can be separately removed to allow the supporting means to be properly positioned with respect to each of the different machines.